Chilling Realities
by frostfalcon
Summary: Neal has a bad day, Peter comes to the rescue...


10/11/2013

Written for the LJ Community - Run the Con

Prompt: Too Cool for School…

Chilling Realities

Neal can tell he's in trouble, waking up in some sort of storage room and freezing his assets off was not on his list of things to do today. The fact that he can't remember how he got here and why he was sleeping fully clothed with his wrists and ankles zip tied just adds to the sort of disconnected worry that is slowly making it's way to the forefront of his mind. He can't quite pull himself together enough to figure out what is happening, it's cold, he's confused and all he really feels like doing is going back to sleep, which in a far off sort of way bothers and confuses him… and then he sees the red pool where his head was just laying and the word blood pops into his thoughts and all of the sudden he goes from sleepy, dazed and confused to panicked, dazed and confused and the rest of his body follows along, he barely manages to roll up onto his knees before his stomach heaves up everything that it contains adding it to the already bloody mess.

He's glad that whoever zip tied his wrists was considerate enough to have done it the front so he could use his hands to help his balance, otherwise when he vomited it probably would have been all over himself and that would just add to the cold he was feeling.

The whole thing finally made the connection in his mind and he realized that he was in a very bad situation, the storage room was actually a walk in freezer now that he was on his knees and coherent enough to sort of see where he was. From the way he felt he had some sort of head injury and had been dumped here a while ago judging by the blood pool and just how much he was disorientated from the cold. He felt sort of like he was drunk enough to know that he was drunk but sober enough to try and think through it and wasn't that just the sort of feeling hypothermia gave? He tried to think of the symptoms and come up with a plan but his brain was already a bit too scrambled and the cold was also doing a number on him. All he could really manage to do was hope Peter knew where he was and was coming for him, that and maybe find a way to un-zip tie or was it de-zip tie himself? He pondered it a moment and then realized that it was irrelevant and that he was worse off than he had originally thought if it took him that long to figure out what mattered was getting free.

He glanced around and tried to focus on anything that might help him free himself and just couldn't get it together. The more he tried the more things seemed to just slip from his thoughts and spiral away. He didn't even seem to notice when his consciousness spiraled away but at least he didn't face plant into the blood and vomit.

The second time he woke up, or at least he thinks it was the second time but really he couldn't accurately remember his name (too many came to mind at the moment) let alone what was going on, he was someplace different and someone was holding him, cradling him like a child really and whoever it was kept saying something. He thought for a few moments and realized it was a man and he kept saying "Neal, come back to me. Come on wake up…" over and over like a mantra. Neal wondered a few minutes where he'd come up with the word "mantra" amid the chaos of his thoughts and memories and then realized the zip ties were gone and that was a good thing, he was also feeling a little warmer which was an even better thing and he could connect the name Neal to himself which was better than the multitude of names that had gone through his mind earlier. He wondered if maybe he was getting better, but he really had no memory of what he should have been getting better from, maybe he'd ask the person holding him when he was with it enough to care more and he drifted back off into the darkness.

"Neal you're awake!" was the first thing he heard as he managed to open his eyes and then blink a few times to try and clear away the double vision, it didn't work but he could place the voice that was talking to him "Peter.." he managed to say and then close his eyes.

"Oh no you don't! Keep your eyes open Neal and talk to me!" he heard an edge of panic or anger in the voice and wrestled his eye lids back up and looked at the figure holding him.

"Peter? Wha.." was all he managed before he was winded and ready to pass out.

"Neal, you need to concentrate and stay with me. We're at the Culinary Academy and I don't know how bad your head is and I'm not sure how long you were in the freezer but you need to stay awake now. The paramedics are on the way, they'll take care of you but you have to stay awake until they get here. Stay with me partner…" Peter said and this time Neal knew the edge in his voice was mostly panic and desperation. Peter was worried and that didn't make Neal feel comfortable, Peter shouldn't have to worry or panic.

"Peter, I'm too sch-sch-school for cool, too cool for school… whatever" Neal stuttered out as he continued to shiver against Peter. He hoped the attempt at a humorous quip would help take some of Peter's panic away.

"That you are buddy." Peter said trying to keep Neal engaged and awake as they waited for help. He didn't want to let Neal drift further away and possibly drop into unconsciousness again so if making stupid cracks and cuddling him like he was a terrified kitten was what it took, he'd be there all the way and clung tighter and prayed the ambulance would get there soon.

He finally heard the sirens and saw the ambulance, shortly there after he relinquished his hold on his partner and let the medical personnel whisk him away. He headed back to his car and followed along having just enough presence of mind to call his team to start combing the scene for clues to how Neal had ended up damn near frozen to death. This was supposed to have been an easy in and out just to get the lay of the land as it were, he wasn't supposed to be at the Culinary Academy, he had gone into the Administration offices on the other side of the block and yet Neal was on the way to the E.R. with some sort of head injury, hypothermia and who knows what else wrong with him and they were no closer to finding out what went wrong.

Peter made it to the hospital a few minutes behind the ambulance but had to take the time to park. He called El to let her know where he was and that he was going to be home late if at all. He ended the call and went to get an update on Neal hoping now that he was at the hospital he'd be on his way to healing.

The E.R. was hectic and he heard someone going on about irregular heart rhythms and hoped it wasn't Neal they were discussing, he had enough to contend with already. Peter stopped by the desk and with a wave of his credentials and a promise of the medical POA to be sent over was able to find out that Neal had made it to the hospital alive but that was all they would tell him.

Peter settled in to wait, it had already been a long day and the night was shaping up to be just as bad. He was about to call El again when she seemingly appeared out of thin air next to him and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Don't worry hon, they'll take good care of him here and when he gets home we'll take care of him there. He's going to be fine, he's Neal he'll always be fine." She said as she sat next to him and put her arms around him in an awkward side hug. They sat together for what felt like days.

"Who's here for Mr. Caffrey?" a voice says and both Peter and El stand up. "Come with me." the nurse says as she leads them back into the treatment area.

Neal is laying there with an I.V. needle taped to the inside of his left elbow and looking far too still and pale. El moves to hold his right hand carefully since the zip ties left the skin raw and bruised as the nurse fetches the doctor to speak to them. They both pretty much nod and tune out everything except that Neal will be fine and most likely will be admitted for a few days depending on how the head injury resolves itself. They both breath a sigh of relief and settle in to keep a watch over "their Neal" they have no idea how he slid into their lives but he's like the wayward son, little brother or close friend they didn't know they had, needed or even wanted, but no that he was there they weren't going to lose him.

Neal wakes slowly finally feeling warm, everything aches especially his head. He tries to reach up to feel the place that bothers him when he realizes that Peter is sleeping in a chair next to the hospital bed he's in and holding his hand, then he notices that Elizabeth is curled into a ball and sleeping in the other chair. He looks at them for a few moments when it slowly dawns on him that he's in the hospital and he can't quite fathom why his thoughts are coming so slowly and randomly.

"You have a head injury and almost froze to death, give yourself a little time it'll come together." Peter says having woken up when he felt Neal try to move and seen the look on Neal's face and knowing him as well as he does can almost read his mind.

"Thanks Peter, thanks for finding me, saving me and thanks you for being here for me." Neal says as he relaxes back into a healing sleep.

Peter looks at him laying there and his heart rejoices as this is the most coherent Neal has been since he was pulled out of the freezer. They still need to figure out the who's, how's and why's of it but Peter can tell Neal is on the right track and the worry of permanent damage is one that is off the table, it just took a few words and a look and Peter knows in his heart that Neal is going to be just fine, it may take a while but he'll come back from this. Peter and El are going to make sure of that with a lot of TLC and some time at their home as Neal pulls himself back together, the rest can wait for now. He's safe and they'll take care of him and that's all that matters for now, everything else can wait while they regroup and take care of their own.


End file.
